You Are What You See?
Changing your focus can change your life.
Have you ever noticed that schools focus on what we aren’t good at?
Up to a point, we need this focus on improving in areas in which we are not naturally good. No matter who we are, we need to be able to write a coherent email, and run for the bus without almost dying. In art class, we became familiar with using our right brain. Math class taught us how to calculate the waitress’s tip, and to know if this sale is actually a good deal.
In our world, it is also useful to understand what the author is trying to tell you, but also maybe why he wants you to think that. When we are able to critique a book, or article, we can decide whether to believe the author or not, and not fall for fake news.
The point of an education through elementary and high school is not so that you will be a mathematician, or a great artist, but that you will have the skills necessary to be able to navigate the real world.
Beyond things like that, we need to focus on what we’re good at. We can let the accountant do the heavy lifting when it comes to calculating depreciations and get a graphic artist to do the drawing. Enjoy watching the sprinter race and just go for a jog around my neighbourhood. Let some other guy write blogs every week and benefit from just reading them!
However, after 12 years or so of school, we can fall into the idea that our whole life is to be that way, focussing on what we aren’t good at. Unfortunately, that can cause a feeling that we aren’t smart enough, which can spill over into our adult life. And our feelings can lead us into unhelpful behaviours, can’t they?
Focussing on What is Right or Wrong in Me
To find happiness, quit focussing on what’s wrong with you and start focussing on what’s right with you!”
Joel Osteen
I completely agree with him, at least in this. You can have happiness, joy, fulfillment in life, peace with your Creator — All of it! The more you feel like a worthwhile person put on earth to make a difference, the more you’ll act like it.
Rather than comparing ourselves to how somebody else’s life appears on social media, I think if we occasionally took a moment to remember the hardships that previous generations had to struggle through, we would have a lot more gratitude. Intentionally finding things to be grateful for can go a long way in determining what we will focus on.
Focussing on what’s right with you and what you’re good at can make a huge difference. Discover the stuff that comes naturally to you that some other people struggle with, and focus on doing that. This in itself gives you something else to be grateful for.
So, what AM I good at?
In the previous blog, I quote the line, “There are two great days in your life. The day you were born and the day you discovered why.” As part of the universe, we humans are designed with an intended purpose. So how do we discover that purpose? To start with, we look for hints in what we were designed to be good at. Before I look at how to take care of my body, I have to decide what it was designed to do.
For American football fans, a guy who is born to be an offensive lineman, is never going to be a wide receiver, even if he lost 100 lbs. I’ve seen a lineman pick up a fumble and start running to the end zone. After about 30 yards, he’s praying that someone will come and tackle him, so he doesn’t have to run all the way down the field.
Likewise, if you put a wide receiver on the offensive line, he is never going to be good at it, if he even survives! As a long distance runner, I always thought I sucked at running. In our high school, the longest race was 300 yards. I’m still speeding up at 300 yards! Obviously, it all requires some training, and to a certain extent, you can increase your stamina, flexibility, power, but only to a point. It is known that these athletes have more slow twitch than fast twitch muscle fibres.
You may be telling yourself at this point, “That’s nice, but I know I’m never going to be a marathon runner, what’s this got to do with me?” In all other aspects of our body too, including our brain, we have different tendencies, talents, and needs.
Focussing on What’s Right or Wrong in the World
I would like to expand Osteen’s thought to, “quit focussing on what’s wrong with everybody else and what’s wrong with the world”. While the legacy media is tempting us to focus on the bad stuff going on in the world, it is best not to follow along. Critical theory, popular among the media types, says that we should be critical, find fault, afix blame, focus on the negative and de-construct all of it around us.
Of course, we need sometimes to focus on the negative, to avoid a car accident, or adjust our spending habits. The trick is to get back to a normal setting of peace, rather than allowing stressed and negative to be our normal setting. When we look at something right in front of us, we can see something in our own sphere of influence that we personally can build up and encourage. Doing this brings about change.
Responsibility:
Like the famous quote from Francois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) and Spiderman’s uncle, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” We are all responsible for how we use our superpower, that ability we’ve discovered about ourselves that comes more naturally to us than others. We have free will. We are responsible for how we use it, in the choices we make.
Likewise, with freedom also comes responsibilities. On Memorial, or Remembrance Day, we are reminded that freedom doesn’t come cheap. It costs some members of our society to obtain it. We must also be reminded that we have to make regular payments for it too. In order to maintain our freedom, we have to take up our responsibilities for our role in a democracy.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Winston Churchill
We often hear about ensuring our rights, but not so much about our responsibilities. At election time, we hear that it is our public duty to go out and vote, but that’s just a bare minimum. I would prefer, quite frankly that you don’t vote, if you don’t first put a little effort into researching who you are voting for and why. If you vote for the guy with the best hair, I’m sorry, but you get what you deserve!
The new big stir in Canada this month is about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s haircut that makes him look like a new ‘Dumb and Dumber’ movie is coming out, so maybe that is a reason he won’t get re-elected next time.
Next Steps:
- Are you focussing on what is right about you?
- Are you focussing too much right now on what is wrong in the world?
- What is your superpower?
- How are you choosing to use your superpower?
- How can you maximize its use to benefit more of us?
Next blog: What happens when we focus on something?
